Uplink (UL) signaling generally refers to transmissions from an access terminal to a base station in a wireless system. Uplink signaling can require significant resources, and may include several component messages such as ACK (acknowledgement)/NAK (negative acknowledgement), CQI (channel quality indicator) feedback in respect of the channel, MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) configuration, pilot channel, and resource requests to name a few specific examples.
Uplink signaling is used for many different applications. Some services may be less delay sensitive, for example FTP (file transfer protocol), HTTP (hyper text transfer protocol), and other services may be more delay sensitive. Examples of some delay sensitive services include VoIP (Voice over internet protocol), video telephony, near-real time video, and gaming.
In addition, some services have other challenges such as a limited bandwidth and power for signaling, frequent transmissions of delay sensitive traffic, a requirement for signaling per packet or and per transmission, large number of mobile stations, variable packet sizes, a requirement for adaptive MCS (modulation and coding schemes) for variable size packets, and a requirement for adaptive resource scheduling.
Some existing solutions have incurred a lot of overhead or delay, and have not been able to accommodate a large number of mobile stations efficiently.
In Draft IEEE 802.16m System Description Document, IEEE 802.16m-08/003r1, dated Apr. 15th 2008, it is stated that:
This [802.16m] standard amends the IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN-OFDMA specification to provide an advanced air interface for operation in licensed bands. It meets the cellular layer requirements of IMT-Advanced next generation mobile networks.
This amendment provides continuing support for legacy WirelessMAN-OFDMA equipment.
The standard will address the following purpose:                i. The purpose of this standard is to provide performance improvements necessary to support future advanced services and applications, such as those described by the ITU in Report ITU-R M.2072.        
FIGS. 7-13 of the present application correspond to FIGS. 1-7 of IEEE 802.16m-08/003r1. The description of these figures in of IEEE 802.16m-08/003r1 is incorporated herein by reference.